Provisioner

The Provisioner part provides idempotent configuration of UNIX servers that can be accessed by SSH. It can be connected to Compute part to create and deploy to a new cloud server, or it can be pointed at a static set of SSH connection details to deploy to a dedicated server.

The part needs connection details, these are provided through the server parameter:

new Provisioner as provisioner:
    server:
        fqdn: example.com
        port: 22
        username: root
        password: penguin55
        private_key: path/to/id_rsa

    resources:
      - File:
          name: /etc/my.cnf
          template: mytemplate.j2
          template_args:
              hello: world

To provision to a server, Yaybu needs to be able to access it. In particular you MUST make sure that:

  • Yaybu has passwordless access over ssh to the server.
  • Yaybu has passwordless access to sudo. The best way to achieve this is to ensure you are in the appropriate group (‘admin’ or ‘sudo’ on Ubuntu for example, depending on which version). Then add the NOPASSWD: directive to the appropriate group.

Options

You specify a list of resources to apply to a designated server.

The resources are specified as a list of simple files, directories, users, etc that are executed in order:

resources:
  - File:
      name: /etc/my.cnf
      static: staticfile.cnf

  - User:
      name: django

You can pass the following settings to the server argument:

fqdn
A fully qualified domain name to connect to (via SSH). An IP can also be used if required.
port
The port to connect to. This is optional, and port 22 will be used if not provided.
username
The ssh username to login as. If this isn’t root then Yaybu will attempt to use sudo when it requires root access to perform a task.
password
The ssh password to login with.
private_key
An RSA or DSA private key that can be used to log in to the target server.
resources
The provisioner part expresses server configuration in units called “resources”. These are things like files, init.d services or unix accounts.

If you do not provide a private_key or a password Yaybu will fallback to trying keys in your ssh keyring. If you provide both then it will prefer to use a password.

Built-in resources

This section describes the built-in resources you can use to describe your server configuration.

File

A provider for this resource will create or amend an existing file to the provided specification.

For example, the following will create the /etc/hosts file based on a static local file:

extend resources:
  - File:
      name: /etc/hosts
      owner: root
      group: root
      mode: 644
      static: my_hosts_file

The following will create a file using a jinja2 template, and will back up the old version of the file if necessary:

extend resources:
  - File:
      name: /etc/email_addresses
      owner: root
      group: root
      mode: 644
      template: email_addresses.j2
      template_args:
         foo: foo@example.com
         bar: bar@example.com
      backup: /etc/email_addresses.{year}-{month}-{day}

The available parameters are:

name
The full path to the file this resource represents.
owner
A unix username or UID who will own created objects. An owner that begins with a digit will be interpreted as a UID, otherwise it will be looked up using the python ‘pwd’ module.
group
A unix group or GID who will own created objects. A group that begins with a digit will be interpreted as a GID, otherwise it will be looked up using the python ‘grp’ module.
mode
A mode representation as an octal. This can begin with leading zeros if you like, but this is not required. DO NOT use yaml Octal representation (0o666), this will NOT work.
static
A static file to copy into this resource. The file is located on the yaybu path, so can be colocated with your recipes.
template
A jinja2 template, used to generate the contents of this resource. The template is located on the yaybu path, so can be colocated with your recipes
template_args
The arguments passed to the template.

Directory

A directory on disk. Directories have limited metadata, so this resource is quite limited.

For example:

extend resources:
  - Directory:
      name: /var/local/data
      owner: root
      group: root
      mode: 0755

The available parameters are:

name
The full path to the directory on disk
owner
The unix username who should own this directory, by default this is ‘root’
group
The unix group who should own this directory, by default this is ‘root’
mode
The octal mode that represents this directory’s permissions, by default this is ‘755’.
parents
Create parent directories as needed, using the same ownership and permissions, this is False by default.

Execute

Execute a command. This command is executed in a shell subprocess.

For example:

extend resources:
  - Execute:
      name: core_packages_apt_key
      command: apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys {{source.key}}

A much more complex example. This shows executing a command if a checkout synchronises:

extend resources:
  for bi in flavour.base_images:
    - Execute:
        name: base-image-{{bi}}
        policy:
          execute:
              when: sync
              on: /var/local/checkouts/ci
        command: ./vmbuilder-{{bi}}
        cwd: /var/local/checkouts/ci
        user: root

The available parameters are:

name
The name of this resource. This should be unique and descriptive, and is used so that resources can reference each other.
command
If you wish to run a single command, then this is the command.
commands
If you wish to run multiple commands, provide a list
cwd
The current working directory in which to execute the command.
environment

The environment to provide to the command, for example:

extend resources:
  - Execute:
      name: example
      command: echo $FOO
      environment:
          FOO: bar
returncode
The expected return code from the command, defaulting to 0. If the command does not return this return code then the resource is considered to be in error.
user
The user to execute the command as.
group
The group to execute the command as.
umask
The umask to use when executing this command
unless
A command to run to determine is this execute should be actioned
creates
The full path to a file that execution of this command creates. This is used like a “touch test” in a Makefile. If this file exists then the execute command will NOT be executed.
touch
The full path to a file that yaybu will touch once this command has completed successfully. This is used like a “touch test” in a Makefile. If this file exists then the execute command will NOT be executed.

Checkout

This represents a “working copy” from a Source Code Management system. This could be provided by, for example, Subversion or Git remote repositories.

Note that this is ‘a checkout’, not ‘to checkout’. This represents the resource itself on disk. If you change the details of the working copy (for example changing the branch) the provider will execute appropriate commands (such as svn switch) to take the resource to the desired state.

For example:

extend resources:
  - Checkout:
      name: /usr/src/myapp
      repository: https://github.com/myusername/myapp
      scm: git

The available parameters are:

name
The full path to the working copy on disk.
repository
The identifier for the repository - this could be an http url for subversion or a git url for git, for example.
branch
The name of a branch to check out, if required.
tag
The name of a tag to check out, if required.
revision
The revision to check out or move to.
scm
The source control management system to use, e.g. subversion, git.
scm_username
The username for the remote repository
scm_password
The password for the remote repository.
user
The user to perform actions as, and who will own the resulting files. The default is root.
group
The group to perform actions as. The default is to use the primary group of user.
mode
A mode representation as an octal. This can begin with leading zeros if you like, but this is not required. DO NOT use yaml Octal representation (0o666), this will NOT work.

Package

Represents an operating system package, installed and managed via the OS package management system. For example, to ensure these three packages are installed:

extend resources:
  - Package:
      name: apache2

The available parameters are:

name
The name of the package. This can be a single package or a list can be supplied.
version
The version of the package, if only a single package is specified and the appropriate provider supports it (the Apt provider does not support it).
purge
When removing a package, whether to purge it or not.

When installing a package apt-get may give a 404 error if your local apt cache is stale. If Yaybu thinks this might be the cause it will apt-get update and retry before giving up.

User

A resource representing a UNIX user in the password database. The underlying implementation currently uses the “useradd” and “usermod” commands to implement this resource.

This resource can be used to create, change or delete UNIX users.

For example:

extend resources:
  - User:
      name: django
      fullname: Django Software Owner
      home: /var/local/django
      system: true
      disabled-password: true

The available parameters are:

name
The username this resource represents.
password
The encrypted password, as returned by crypt(3). You should make sure this password respects the system’s password policy.
fullname
The comment field for the password file - generally used for the user’s full name.
home
The full path to the user’s home directory.
uid
The user identifier for the user. This must be a non-negative integer.
gid
The group identifier for the user. This must be a non-negative integer.
group
The primary group for the user, if you wish to specify it by name.
groups
A list of supplementary groups that the user should be a member of.
append
A boolean that sets how to apply the groups a user is in. If true then yaybu will add the user to groups as needed but will not remove a user from a group. If false then yaybu will replace all groups the user is a member of. Thus if a process outside of yaybu adds you to a group, the next deployment would remove you again.
system
A boolean representing whether this user is a system user or not. This only takes effect on creation - a user cannot be changed into a system user once created without deleting and recreating the user.
shell
The full path to the shell to use.
disabled_password
A boolean for whether the password is locked for this account.
disabled_login
A boolean for whether this entire account is locked or not.

Group

A resource representing a unix group stored in the /etc/group file. groupadd and groupmod are used to actually make modifications.

For example:

extend resources:
  - Group:
      name: zope
      system: true

The available parameters are:

name
The name of the unix group.
gid
The group ID associated with the group. If this is not specified one will be chosen.
system
Whether or not this is a system group - i.e. the new group id will be taken from the system group id list.
password
The password for the group, if required

Service

This represents service startup and shutdown via an init daemon.

The available parameters are:

name
A unique name representing an initd service. This would normally match the name as it appears in /etc/init.d.
priority
Priority of the service within the boot order. This attribute will have no effect when using a dependency or event based init.d subsystem like upstart or systemd.
start
A command that when executed will start the service. If not provided, the provider will use the default service start invocation for the init.d system in use.
stop
A command that when executed will start the service. If not provided, the provider will use the default service stop invocation for the init.d system in use.
restart
A command that when executed will restart the service. If not provided, the provider will use the default service restart invocation for the init.d system in use. If it is not possible to automatically determine if the restart script is avilable the service will be stopped and started instead.
reconfig
A command that when executed will make the service reload its configuration file.
running
A comamnd to execute to determine if a service is running. Should have an exit code of 0 for success.
pidfile
Where the service creates its pid file. This can be provided instead of running as an alternative way of checking if a service is running or not.

Dependencies between resources

Resources are always applied in the order they are listed in the resources property. You can rely on this to build repeatble and reliable processes. However this might not be enough. There are a couple of other ways to express relationships between resources.

One example is when you want to run a script only if you have deployed a new version of your code:

resources:
  - Checkout:
      name: /usr/local/src/mycheckout
      repository: git://github.com/example/example_project

  - Execute:
      name: install-requirements
      command: /var/sites/myapp/bin/pip install -r /usr/local/src/mycheckout/requirements.txt
      policy:
          execute:
              when: sync
              on: Checkout[/usr/local/src/mycheckout]

When the Checkout step pulls in a change from a repository, the Execute resource will apply its execute policy.

You can do the same for monitoring file changes too:

resources:
  - File:
      name: /etc/apache2/security.conf
      static: apache2/security.conf

  - Execute:
      name: restart-apache
      commands:
        - apache2ctl configtest
        - apache2ctl graceful
      policy:
          execute:
              when: apply
              on: File[/etc/apache2/security.conf]

Sometimes you can’t use File (perhaps buildout or maven or similar generates a config file for you), but you still want to trigger a command when a file changes during deployment:

resources:
  - Execute:
      name: buildout
      command: buildout -c production.cfg
      watches:
        - /var/sites/mybuildout/parts/apache.cfg

  - Execute:
      name: restart-apache
      commands:
        - apache2ctl configtest
        - apache2ctl graceful
      policy:
          execute:
              when: watched
              on: File[/var/sites/mybuildout/parts/apache.cfg]

This declares that the buildout step might change a File (the apache.cfg). Subsequent step can then subscribe to File[/var/sites/mybuildout/parts/apache.cfg] as though it was an ordinary file.

All of these examples use a trigger system. When a trigger has been set yaybu will remember it between invocations. Consider the following example:

resources:
  - File:
      name: /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/mydemosite

  - Directory:
      name: /var/local/tmp/this/paths/parent/dont/exist

  - Execute:
      name: restart-apache2
      command: /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
      policy:
          execute:
              when: apply
              on: File[/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/mydemosite]

When it is run it will create a file in the /etc/apache2/sites-enabled folder. Yaybu knows that the Execute[restart-apache2] step must be run later. It will record a trigger for the Execute statement in /var/run/yaybu/. If the Directory[] step fails and yaybu terminates then the next time yaybu is execute it will instruct you to use the --resume or --no-resume command line option. If you --resume it will remember that it needs to restart apache2. If you choose --no-resume it will not remember, and apache will not be restarted.

Examples

Deploy to an existing server or VM

To deploy to your current computer by SSH you can use a Yaybufile like this:

new Provisioner as provisioner:

    resources:
        - File:
            name: /some_empty_file

        - Execute:
            name: hello_world
            command: touch /hello_world
            creates: /hello_world

    server:
        fqdn: localhost
        username: root
        password: penguin55
        private_key: path/to/key
Read the Docs v: 3.1.1
Versions
latest
3.1.1
3.1
3.0
Downloads
On Read the Docs
Project Home
Builds

Free document hosting provided by Read the Docs.